


The Feeling is Mutual, Apparently

by pioneering



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Family, Gen, Team, post 2x10
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-04
Updated: 2015-01-04
Packaged: 2018-03-05 06:35:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3109724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pioneering/pseuds/pioneering
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The awkward encounter was entirely, one hundred percent Skye's fault.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Feeling is Mutual, Apparently

To be fair, the whole awkward encounter never would have happened if Skye could have kept her mouth shut about the whole thing.  She knew she didn’t owe Coulson an explanation, so the fact that she ended up giving him one made the awkwardness entirely, one hundred percent her fault.

It was _weeks_ after the underground city fiasco anyway, and Coulson had likely forgotten about the event she was bringing up anyway.  But she and Coulson were practicing controlling her power—he and May took turns, mostly, but occasionally she would spend time with Fitz or Simmons who would try and analyze whatever was happening to her, in the scientific sense, but it was mostly May and Coulson that she would practice with.  Actually, it was May more often than Coulson, since she was her S.O., but Coulson made sure to help whenever he could (especially since she clearly wasn’t the only responsibility May had, no matter how much May seemed to act like it sometimes, and Skye was pretty sure that May was still secretly angry over the fact that she had ever allowed Sky out of her sight in the first place).

So she was working with Coulson at the moment, as May had gone off for food or sleep or whatever it is the woman did in her free time, and Skye chose _now_ to bring it up.  And the moment she brought it up, she berated herself.  The whole thing was stupid, anyway.  But she did, she opened her mouth, and now she had to deal with the consequences. 

But Coulson was looking at her confusedly, like he had seen her mouth move but the sounds that came out hadn’t made a lot of sense to him.  So she was forced to say it again, this time more clearly.

“It didn’t feel right,” she repeated, and she realized that yeah, Coulson probably had good reason to be confused because her words out of context did not make any sense.  “When I— when I called Cal ‘dad,’” she clarified.

Coulson still looked confused, but more as to why she was bringing it up, as he remembered the context quite clearly.

_Cal had been beating him, most likely to death, when Skye burst through the room._

_"Stop it!  Stop it or I’ll shoot!  Dad!”_

_Cal had instantly looked up at his daughter who was brandishing a gun at him, which probably saved Coulson’s life.  (Not probably—definitely.  Definitely saved Coulson’s life.)_

It left him battered and sore for a week, and there was still a scar on his face that he was pretty sure wasn't going away any time in the near future. 

“I’m sure it didn’t,” Coulson said carefully, not sure where Skye was going.  “He’d never been a part of your life, he didn’t feel like a father figure to you at all.”

Coulson was on the right track, but Skye internally cursed herself, because clearly she had to explain now, why did she expect that he’d just automatically _get it_ , now she sounded even more stupid than when she was just spouting nonsense.

“He didn’t feel like a father figure,” she said.  “He never will.  Because—”

She stopped and looked down, could feel Coulson’s eyes on her, and she knew she had to finish.  “Becauseifoundadifferentfatherfigure,” she said in a rush, but she knew Coulson understood because she saw his eyes soften and sort of crinkle around the sides.

“I just thought I should tell you that I didn’t mean it,” she added hastily.  “I just wanted you to know that.”  It was a lame ending to an awkward speech.

She stood awkwardly, and looked awkwardly to the side of Coulson, afraid to watch his reaction to basically telling him “hi, I think of you as my dad,” and scuffed her foot awkwardly, and couldn’t find any other way to describe the encounter other than awkward.  She hoped he’d change the subject now that she’d cleared the air and get back to practicing, and it would all go back to normal.

The last thing she was expecting was for him to pull her into a hug.  She leaned into it, relieved that she didn’t ruin anything between them, and wrapped her arms around him in return.

When he let go, Skye saw he was laughing.  She immediately went on the defense.  “What?”

He shook his head.  “May always said she thought I was acting more like I was adopting you all instead of hiring you all,” he said with a grin.  “Apparently, the feeling is mutual.”

And Skye started laughing now, too.  Because apparently she wasn’t actually imagining Phil Coulson acting fatherly, and she wasn’t just hoping that he would finally be the family she never had, because May had noticed it too, and she wasn’t crazy for bringing it up in the first place.

"Although," he added slyly, "she's one to talk.  I haven't seen anyone with such strong mama bear instincts than Melinda May around all of you."

At that, Skye gave a burst of laughter, and she slapped her hand over her mouth when May walked in right then.  She looked at the pair of them with suspicion, and decided that since both were laughing, she could let the matter drop.  "I just thought I should let you know that there was a minor explosion in the lab— _again_ —but it's being dealt with."  Maybe she wasn't going to let it drop.  "Everything all good down here?"

Skye nodded fervently.  "Yup, practicing away!"

May looked at Coulson, who simply grinned.  She rolled her eyes.  "Well, whatever you _were_ doing, make sure you're practicing _now_ ," she said.

They did their best to look sincere as she gave them one last glance and headed back to the lab to help _deal_ with Fitzsimmons' explosion.

"So does this mean I get to boss you around like a dad?" Coulson asked.

"I'm twenty five!" Skye exclaimed.  "And besides, you're _Director of SHIELD_ , you are _literally_ my boss," she added.

Coulson sighed dramatically.  "Fine," he said.  "Now May's right, we _should_ help you practice."

Skye nodded, prepared to begin practicing her control again.  And maybe the awkward encounter was all her fault.  But she was glad to know that she wasn't the only one who felt as though she'd found a family.

**Author's Note:**

> Phil Coulson is definitely a dad, and I'm one hundred percent certain in his mind he is adopting every single agent he brings onto his team. Bobbi—adopted. Lance—adopted. Skye—adopted. Fitzsimmons—adopted. Triplett—adopted (shhhh he's fine). And May goes along with it and becomes an overprotective mama bear.
> 
> Also, I got Skye's age from a Wiki page, so I'm not sure if it's right, but it sounded right? So I'm going with it until I hear otherwise.


End file.
